Singapore Seen Juggling Economic Support With `Prudent' Budget
- Fiscal 2016 budget may focus on helping companies in slowdown
- Finance Minister Heng to unveil first budget Thursday
SINGAPORE - JULY 02: The Supertree Grove is illuminated during the Gardens by the Bay, Light and Sound show on July 2, 2012 in Singapore. The free nightly light and sound display which sees the massive man made Supertrees lit up with spotlights and neon lights officially opened tonight in the 54 hectare south section of the Gardens by the Bay. The Gardens by the Bay was opened on June 29 and features over 220,000 plants, the vertical gradens of the Supertrees, the Flower Dome, Cloud Forest and a Skywalk.
Photographer: Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesSingapore’s Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has a juggling act to perform when he presents his first budget to parliament Thursday: provide support to companies and workers grappling with the effects of faltering growth, while keeping the budget "prudent" in the first year of the government’s new term.
That may prompt him to focus in the upcoming fiscal year on targeted economic support, after recent budgets made notable contributions to social spending, with analysts predicting possible subsidies and tax incentives.